Teleprompter

A van containing presidential communications material has been recovered and is awaiting the arrival of President Obama, who is bringing his bus tour in support of the jobs program to Virginia. A spokeswoman for the Defense Information Systems Agency confirmed the theft and recovery in an email on Tuesday. The incident, which is under investigation, was first reported by NBC12 in Richmond, Va. “A government vehicle was stolen and has been recovered,” the spokeswoman said. “No classified or sensitive information was in the vehicle.

Oh, the dirty little secrets we learn about celebrities, those not so perfect people -- much like all of us -- who stand beaming in the spotlight. In the Michael Jackson wrongful death case Tuesday, jurors, for instance, learned some things that singer Celine Dion may not want the world to know. She hates to practice, testified Paul Meglen, an executive for AEG Live, the company producing Dion's residency at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas “It drove Franco crazy she wouldn't show up for rehearsals,” Meglen testified, referring to Franco Dragone, the director of her show.

A Harvard sleep expert testified in the Michael Jackson wrongful death case Friday that the singer suffered from almost total sleep deprivation that resulted from his use of the anesthetic propofol. Dr. Charles Czeisler, who has both an MD and a PhD, testified that propofol brings on "a drug-induced coma" that is far different from sleep. Not only does it not satisfy the body's need for sleep, it dissipates the sleep drive, "leading to a massive sleep deficiency. " "That is what I believe happened in the case of Mr. Jackson," Czeisler testified.

Just how could it have happened that those schlock-comic-racist-bogus Asian names got on the air, anyway? “Captain Sum Ting Wong” and pilot “Wi Tu Lo” are two of the names read on the air on Bay Area station KTVU and put up on the screen during a Friday newscast about the Asiana Airlines crash that killed three people. The Asian American Journalists Assn. president let the station know about the group's “outrage” over the “on-air blunder that made a mockery of the Asiana Airlines tragedy.” KTVU and the anchor have apologized profusely, and the station pointed out that it had done what it was supposed to do before airing the story: It called the National Transportation Safety Board to check the names.

There are many ways to get a crowd riled up in New Hampshire, but Michele Bachmann cut to the chase in her first Granite State appearance as a presidential candidate Tuesday. “Live free or die!” she shouted into the microphone as she stepped on stage—bringing many in the crowd to their feet. A day after her debut as a 2012 contender in Iowa--where she surged to the top of the field in a Des Moines Register poll released this weekend--the fiery Minnesota congresswoman drew some 300 people to the small, wooded town of Raymond, about 22 miles from New Hampshire’s coast.

Oh, the dirty little secrets we learn about celebrities, those not so perfect people -- much like all of us -- who stand beaming in the spotlight. In the Michael Jackson wrongful death case Tuesday, jurors, for instance, learned some things that singer Celine Dion may not want the world to know. She hates to practice, testified Paul Meglen, an executive for AEG Live, the company producing Dion's residency at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas “It drove Franco crazy she wouldn't show up for rehearsals,” Meglen testified, referring to Franco Dragone, the director of her show.

Hubert Schlafly Inventor of the teleprompter Hubert "Hub" Schlafly, 91, a key member of the team that invented the teleprompter, died April 20 at a hospital in Stamford, Conn., after a brief illness. Schlafly helped start the TelePrompTer Corp., eventually becoming its president and accepting an Emmy Award for the company in 1999 — after winning one himself in 1992 for his contributions to the cable television industry. Schlafly was born Aug. 14, 1919, in St. Louis and graduated from the University of Notre Dame, where he studied electrical engineering.

"Channel 4 News Live From Seoul" was one of the most ridiculous farces I have ever seen on television. The station's newscasters were halfway around the world, and they were telling us what happened in Los Angeles each day? This publicity stunt merely proved that those newscasters are not reporters. Rather, they are just pretty people who know how to read a TelePrompTer. Paul Warneke, Torrance

Now you can take your guitar on the road and polish up your pickin' with the help of the little Guitar Sidekick ($29.99). A clamp that mounts on a guitar neck, the Sidekick can hold an iPhone or other smart phone or media player in place so you can take video lessons, tune your guitar, follow a lyrics teleprompter or use other music apps. The company's website provides links to video tutorials and accompaniments. Rolling Stones, anyone? Info: Castiv

With reference to the June 25 article "The Death of Z Channel--What Now?," I was sorry to read no mention of the birth of the Z Channel. Perhaps some readers might be interested in how it all came about. The Z Channel was the brainchild of myself, the first (1974-76) programmer; General John Atwood, president of Theta Cable, and George Storer Jr., a Theta Cable executive. Incidentally, the name, Z Channel, was thought up by Hal Kaufman, who headed the advertising agency Theta used, and who replaced me as programming head when I went to 20th Century Fox. Kaufman hired Jerry Harvey as his assistant, and when he became ill, Harvey took over.

A Harvard sleep expert testified in the Michael Jackson wrongful death case Friday that the singer suffered from almost total sleep deprivation that resulted from his use of the anesthetic propofol. Dr. Charles Czeisler, who has both an MD and a PhD, testified that propofol brings on "a drug-induced coma" that is far different from sleep. Not only does it not satisfy the body's need for sleep, it dissipates the sleep drive, "leading to a massive sleep deficiency. " "That is what I believe happened in the case of Mr. Jackson," Czeisler testified.

Foster Friess, a wealthy Republican who helped fund Rick Santorum's presidential run but is now supporting Mitt Romney, used gun imagery Wednesday to describe the campaign against President Obama. “There are a lot of things that haven't been hammered at because Rick and Mitt have been going at each other,” Friess said during an interview on Fox Business Network. “Now that they have trained their barrels on President Obama, I hope his teleprompters are bullet-proof.” Friess told ABC News that he regretted the statement immediately after making it. The retired mutual fund manager has spent nearly $2 million on GOP candidates and causes in the 2012 campaign, the vast majority funding a "super PAC" that backed Santorum.

Rick Santorum, after finishing far behind Mitt Romney in Illinois, turned his focus Tuesday night to winning his home state of Pennsylvania, which votes in five weeks, styling himself as the only trustworthy conservative and delivering a populist appeal aimed at blue-collar voters. After mentioning that he had called Romney to congratulate him, Santorum took aim at the front-runner in his election night speech, implying that he was too wealthy and not tough enough to take on President Obama.

In a nod to his poor showing in the GOP debates, Rick Perry declares in his latest campaign advertisement that he's a "doer, not a talker. " "If you're looking for a slick politician or a guy with great Teleprompter skills, we already have that, and he's destroying our economy," the Texas governor says in the 30-second spot, which will air on broadcast and cable television in Iowa. It's classic campaign playbook: turn your biggest perceived weakness into a strength. The implicit argument here is that like President Obama, other presidential candidates -- perhaps front-runner Mitt Romney -- may be more polished performers.

A van containing presidential communications material has been recovered and is awaiting the arrival of President Obama, who is bringing his bus tour in support of the jobs program to Virginia. A spokeswoman for the Defense Information Systems Agency confirmed the theft and recovery in an email on Tuesday. The incident, which is under investigation, was first reported by NBC12 in Richmond, Va. “A government vehicle was stolen and has been recovered,” the spokeswoman said. “No classified or sensitive information was in the vehicle.

There are many ways to get a crowd riled up in New Hampshire, but Michele Bachmann cut to the chase in her first Granite State appearance as a presidential candidate Tuesday. “Live free or die!” she shouted into the microphone as she stepped on stage—bringing many in the crowd to their feet. A day after her debut as a 2012 contender in Iowa--where she surged to the top of the field in a Des Moines Register poll released this weekend--the fiery Minnesota congresswoman drew some 300 people to the small, wooded town of Raymond, about 22 miles from New Hampshire’s coast.

Mounting evidence suggests that Bush's problem is much more profound than being "born with a silver foot in his mouth." The debate confirmed my worst fears. His garbled syntax, bizarre mistakes, memory lapses, inappropriate language, malapropisms, and inability to concentrate reinforce a pattern that has emerged during the last several years. Citizens of both parties, instead of treating his "awkwardness" as amusing or endearing, should be asking tough questions about his ability to govern.

I can see why Sammy Hagar likes Ronald Reagan--they're so much alike. Hagar boasts "I can't tell you what's going on in the world today," then proves it by saying Reagan is "spontaneous," "not rehearsed or planned." See Sammy, some of us rock fans do "give a damn" about politics. We can distinguish between an act, like Reagan "forgetting" if he approved selling weapons to Iran, from reality. We can easily see that the Prez is lost without his TelePrompter. Actors aren't spontaneous, Sammy.

Hubert Schlafly Inventor of the teleprompter Hubert "Hub" Schlafly, 91, a key member of the team that invented the teleprompter, died April 20 at a hospital in Stamford, Conn., after a brief illness. Schlafly helped start the TelePrompTer Corp., eventually becoming its president and accepting an Emmy Award for the company in 1999 — after winning one himself in 1992 for his contributions to the cable television industry. Schlafly was born Aug. 14, 1919, in St. Louis and graduated from the University of Notre Dame, where he studied electrical engineering.

Now you can take your guitar on the road and polish up your pickin' with the help of the little Guitar Sidekick ($29.99). A clamp that mounts on a guitar neck, the Sidekick can hold an iPhone or other smart phone or media player in place so you can take video lessons, tune your guitar, follow a lyrics teleprompter or use other music apps. The company's website provides links to video tutorials and accompaniments. Rolling Stones, anyone? Info: Castiv